1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a paintball storage containers and, more particularly, to a paintball backpack for storing and dispensing paintballs during a paintball game.
2. Prior Art
When engaged in any one of the numerous varieties of paintball games, one player attempts to hit another player with a spherical ball containing paint or some other type of marking material discharged from a compressed air or gas operated marking device. It is often advantageous to be able to fire rapidly and continuously in order to increase the chances of hitting an opponent with a paintball.
Although the compressed gas cylinders used to propel the paintballs can provide up to 1000 or more individual charges or shots, the magazines or hoppers attached to the paintball markers typically are limited to holding only about one or two hundred paintballs. This can create an undesirable situation wherein a player has sufficient compressed gas to continue shooting, but runs out of paintball ammunition.
In this scenario, a player without paintball ammunition is particularly vulnerable insofar as the distinctive sound of a paintball marker being fired with an empty hopper is easily recognized by other players. As a result, an opponent can rush upon and shoot the player with the empty marker without risk of being shot by that player.
In order to reduce the chance of being caught with an empty paintball hopper, paintball canisters holding about 100 paintballs have been made available to paintball enthusiasts. Several of these canisters are typically carried on a belt and are removed, opened and emptied into a paintball marker hopper before the hopper runs out of paintballs.
While such canisters provide an advantage, they are often difficult to access, open and dispense. Moreover, the opening of these canisters usually requires the use of two hands and thereby temporarily renders the player defenseless.
Another drawback associated with such canisters is the problem of their proper disposal. Once emptied, the canisters present disposal and potential safety issues. Proper disposal of the canister requires a player to reapply the canister's cap or cover and place it back into a pouch on the player's belt. As with dispensing the paintballs into a paintball marker hopper, this leaves the player defenseless for a brief period of time, thus providing more opportunity for an opposing player to score a mark.
An alternate means of disposal would be for the player to throw the empty canister on the ground in the playing area for later retrieval. This method can pose a safety problem. In the heat of action, a player, other team members or opponents could step on an empty canister, causing them to fall.
Accordingly, a need remains for a portable paintball container that stores and dispenses paintballs quickly and easily while playing a paintball game. The present invention fulfills such a need by providing a portable backpack capable of storing numerous paintballs and dispensing them quickly and efficiently as a user desires. The present invention decreases the number of times a user must reload and enables a user to carry surplus paint balls effortlessly for long periods of time.